Is California’s Kern County the next frontier for aerospace innovation?

When you think of Kern County’s economy, two things may jump to mind: oil and agriculture.

But there’s another big player in the county’s economy – aerospace. County economic development officials estimate that around 20,000 people are employed in the sector – and one of the fastest growing areas has been in the field of commercial spaceflight.

The Mojave Air and Space Port in eastern Kern County is home to a number of startups specializing in the field.

But last year that tight knit community was rocked by tragedy when Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo was destroyed in a test flight, killing co-pilot Mike Alsbury and seriously injuring the other co-pilot.

Now three months after that accident, where does the world of commercial spaceflight go from here?Listen to this Valley Public Radio (VPR) — part of the NPR digital network – program on the topic, aired January 20, 2015, hosted by VPR’s Joe Moore and Ezra David Romero.

Guests: Leonard David, space journalist, and Stuart Witt – the CEO of the Mojave Air and Spaceport, the nation’s first inland spaceport and home to Scaled Composites, which has conducted tests of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.